The-Accountant-Jul-Aug-2016

WORK PLACE
By Wasilwa Miriongi, wmiriongi@gmail.com
ISSUES THAT WILL
KILL YOUR CAREER
As you read this article you
may have been in your career
as long as it may be, be it ten
years five years or you are just
a beginner. You will find out
that some of your peers are successful and
you are not. You may need to examine this
article with keenness and reflect on the
behavioural aspects of your career.
There are so many things that can kill
the careers of good, hard-working people.
Honest mistakes often carry hard-hitting
consequences. We usually only hear about
the more egregious examples, such as
when you as an employee becomes an
Internet sensation for writing a blistering
post criticizing the company’s low pay
and its Managing Director. To no one’s
surprise, you may quickly find yourself
out of a job. Most people don’t go down
in a blaze of glory; they kill their careers
in subtle, decidedly un-dramatic ways.
And it’s a shame because it happens all
the time.
A survey in United States found that 83
percent of people had seen someone make
a blunder that had catastrophic results for
their career, reputation, or business, and
69 percent admitted that they themselves
had done something that had damaged
their careers:
• 31 percent said it cost them a
promotion, a raise, or even a job
• 27 percent said it damaged a working
relationship
• 11 percent said it destroyed their
reputation
These numbers show how damaging you
can be to your own career if you are not
careful. There doesn’t have to be a single,
sickening moment when you realize that
you just shoved your foot firmly in your
mouth, either. Little things can add up
over time and undermine your career just
as much as (or more than) one huge lapse
in judgment. The good news is that if you
stay aware of them, these are all things
that you can control before they creep up
on you and kill your career.
1. Over-promising and underdelivering
It is tempting to promise the moon
to your colleagues and your clients,
especially when you are honest and
hardworking and believe that you can do
it. The problem is that there’s no point
in creating additional pressure that can
make you look bad. If you promise to
do something ridiculously fast and you
miss the deadline by a little bit, you’ll
most likely think that you did a good job
because you still delivered quickly. But
the moment you promise something to
someone, they expect nothing less. You
end up looking terrible when you fall
short, which is a shame, because you could
have done the same quality work in the
same amount of time with great results
if you’d just set up realistic expectations
from the beginning. This is one of those
situations where perception matters more
36 JULY - AUGUST 2016